Character Flaws
by Ada15
Summary: Bonnie makes a choice. Damon pays the price. Eventual Damon/Bonnie
1. Chapter 1

This will be Damon/Bonnie and Damon and Stefan bonding too. It takes place in season three after Stefan comes back to Mystic Falls but before he regained control of himself from Klaus.

There has been a complete lack of Damon/Bonnie interaction this season and I'm even more fed up than usual with Damon/Elena. That scene at Klaus' ball in Dangerous Liaisons is really what did it. Their 'relationship' seems to have become abusive on both sides now …

I posted a part of this a long time ago but had to delete it because it was during a time that I wasn't writing much. I'm fully back into writing now, however, and I hope I'll be able to update this one pretty quickly.

I don't own The Vampire Diaries

Everything hurt. That was the first thing he noticed when he regained consciousness. He lay on the hard floor for several minutes, disorientated before he managed to, with a groan; push himself up to his knees.

He sat back on his heels, opening his eyes for the first time only to slam them shut again when the light filtering through the window not far away pierced his skull and made his head pound. He brought one hand up to his head and opened his eyes slower, blinking until his vision cleared completely.

The room around him was completely unfamiliar. The place was large with nice furniture. A couch, a fireplace, a large window. Reaching for the wall, he braced a hand there before slowly lifting himself to his feet.

Confusion reigned, even as he glanced down at himself, at his hands. A heavy ring rested on one finger of his right hand and he was dressed all in black. Black button up shirt, black jeans, black boots.

He walked over to a mirror attached to the wall and leaned forward. Bright, sky blue eyes stared out at him under a mess of thick black hair. Turning away, he rested his back against the wall, reaching up to run his hand through that hair, until his fingers tangled in it.

He let himself slide to the floor again, knees drawn up to his chest, hands still on his head. And he tried desperately to remember how he had gotten into the room, tried to remember the face that had stared back at him in the mirror, tried to remember _anything. _

Panic began to invade his chest when he came up with nothing. It was all…_blank. _There was nothing there and the more he tried to pull something up from that blank space, the more his head hurt. He stopped when black began to invade the edges of his vision, searching his pockets instead.

He produced a cell phone after just a moment and quickly scrolled through the contacts saved in it, marveling for just a second that he remembered how to work the expensive looking phone but couldn't remember his own name.

He stared a moment at the list of names and almost, _almost, _threw the damn thing when they didn't bring up any memories. Instead, he brought up the last number dialed and pressed send before bringing it up to his ear. It rang three times before a soft, female voice answered.

"Damon?"

An almost hysterical little laugh escaped him, the panic that he had been so far able to suppress rising up into his throat, making hard to speak, hard to _breathe_.

"Is that my name?" He managed.

"What's wrong?" An immediate note of concern entered her voice. The sudden sound of the front door slamming made him jump and forced him away from the conversation.

"I have to go," he said, hanging up before she could protest, whoever she was. He was still sitting in the same position when the person strolled into the room. He looked young, even younger than the guy he had seen in the mirror.

The stranger noticed him almost immediately. "What are you doing, Damon?" Contempt colored his voice.

_Huh. _So, apparently, he _was_ Damon. Unfortunately, the name didn't sound familiar. It was just as foreign as the room he was in. He should get up, aware that he was huddled against the wall like a child but couldn't seem to get his legs to work.

The stranger drew closer. "Aw. What's wrong, brother? You get rejected again?" There was amusement in his voice then and his dark green eyes were hard as they stared down at him.

"Brother?" He asked, his own eyes wide and the confusion in them plain.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The question came out flat and it didn't sound too much like the stranger cared what the answer was.

"I don't…" He shook his head and finally managed to force himself to stand. "Who are you?"

The stranger's eyes widened momentarily before, faster than he could react, he was slammed up against the wall, his head colliding painfully with it and then there were fingers wrapped around his throat, cutting off his airway.

"Is this another ploy?" Half irritation, half amusement.

"Stop," he choked out before the iron grip tightened and he couldn't breathe at all.

"Whatever you're playing at you can stop. It's not going to work." The green eyed stranger slammed him into the wall again, emphasizing his point and making stars burst in his vision.

The pressure on his throat was gone a second later and he found himself on the floor again, gasping. When he managed to lean back against the wall, the young man was kneeling before him, head cocked to the side, studying him.

Ignoring him for the moment, he reached around the back of his head. He grimaced when he touched the spot where his head had made contact with the wall and wasn't so surprised at the blood staining his fingertips when he brought his hand back.

A hand darted out, grabbing his wrist with the same grip that had been around his throat and then the stranger was staring at the blood on his hand too.

"You're not faking," he said flatly.

"You're a psycho," he said, half shocked, half angry. He tried to jerk away from the boy.

For just a moment, the dark green eyes staring down at him looked completely unsure. The boy seemed to pause, hesitate before, after a moment, his eyes went hard again and he laughed.

"Maybe."

The boy was gone a second later, leaving him alone on the floor with the rising panic and a sense that the scene he had just been a part of was both familiar and not.

Xxxxxxxx

Bonnie walked warily into the boarding house, her gaze wondering in search of Stefan. She did not want to run into him, especially after what she had done. He was more unstable than ever as of late and, no matter how much he claimed not to care, she was sure he would want retribution if he knew.

When she made it into the parlor, she spotted the one she was really looking for. Damon was pushing himself to his feet while she stepped deeper into the room, studying him.

"Damon…"

He spun to face her and she stopped short at the look on his face. His eyes were wide and, for the first time that she had ever seen, frightened. Despite herself, despite how much she had always hated him, she felt a stab of guilt at that look.

"Do I know you?" Tentative, unsure, afraid. All things Damon Salvatore had never been.

Bonnie grimaced and she said something that she had never felt the urge to say to him in the entire time she had known him.

"I'm sorry."


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I'm glad you all liked it!

Sorry for the wait. This chapter took longer than usual for me to write and it's shorter than I would have liked….

Xxxxxxxx

_"I'm sorry." _

"I didn't mean for this to happen." Bonnie chewed her lip and watched Damon warily, a little hesitant in moving closer to him. The consequences of what she had done were in the confusion, the fear she could see in his eyes.

"You did something?" He looked pretty disoriented.

"I didn't mean…" She trailed of, shook her head and stepped forward, held her hands up when he backed away. "I only want to…here." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the couch. He didn't protest and she wasn't surprised.

Bonnie pushed him to sit on the couch and sat down herself beside him. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"What'd you do?" He finally asked and Bonnie sighed, stared down at her hands the panic wasn't there in his voice. She was pretty sure he was in shock. She could see it on his face.

And she had no idea how to answer that question. She felt the immediate need to defend her actions, to tell him everything, to tell him things that he should already know, things that only she knew now.

"I cast a spell," she admitted after a moment.

"A spell," he repeated.

"You asked me to," she said before he could ask anything else. "Listen…" She leaned closer to him. "I need to try and reverse it."

"So, you're to blame for this, are you?"

Both Bonnie and Damon rose to their feet at the sound of the voice, spinning to face Stefan.

Xxxxxxxxx

The anger burned slowly. Stefan had heard the entire conversation between Bonnie and Damon but had waited to confront the witch about it. He should have known she would be the one responsible but her claim that Damon had _asked _her to do this to him was an interesting one.

He stood behind the couch and his gaze traveled from Bonnie to Damon. There was fear shining in his brother's blue eyes, actual fear. Stefan was hit suddenly with just how wrong the situation he found himself in was, of how wrong it was for Damon to look at him like that.

Damon had been afraid for him before, mostly when they were kids before Katherine had so thoroughly ripped them apart but he'd never been afraid _of _him.

The anger spiked, turning quickly to rage when he met Bonnie's gaze once again. She backed up with Damon at the look in his eyes but, although wary, the terror wasn't there.

"What exactly did you do?" Stefan started around the couch, towards the girl.

Xxxxxxxxx

It was the look in Stefan's eyes that had Bonnie back away. She had never seen that look in his eyes before. She had seen it in Damon's. She was startled by it, and was hit with the fact that Elena had been right, that there had to be something there to save in Stefan.

Not because he was looking at her like he wanted to snap her neck but because she was sure he was looking at her that way because of what she had done, because of his brother. He would have had to be blind not to see the fear in Damon's eyes.

"You cast a spell?" Stefan repeated her words back to her, low and with an undercurrent of danger.

A thread of fear ran through her. It wasn't the all consuming terror she had felt in the gym when all their lives had been in the balance but it was still there. She could drop him, use her power but he could move faster than she could see and he had the potential of killing her before she could retaliate.

This was Stefan also. Stefan, who had felt so guilty after his last slip off the wagon, had tried to kill himself. But this was also the same Stefan who had literally given up everything in his life in order to save his brothers and she had damaged that.

Damon's fingers curling around her upper arm brought her back out of her thoughts and she straightened. Before she could open her mouth to speak, Stefan's stance shifted and his face went impassive. Bonnie heard the front door open a few seconds later. Although Bonnie refused to take her eyes off Stefan, she was sure of whom it was before Elena spoke.

"What's going on?"

Stefan took another step closer to Bonnie, ignoring Elena for the moment. "Fix this," he ordered, his tone not nearly as emotionless as his expression. Then he was gone from the room and Bonnie had to suppress the urge to curse her luck.

Damon couldn't have been alone when the spell played out?

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked, stepping deeper into the room, confusion shining in her eyes when she noticed the grip Damon had on her arm and the fact that Bonnie had not shaken him off.

Another question Bonnie wasn't sure how to answer, or even really wanted to answer. The story behind it was long and involved a few things that she had never planned on telling Elena. She wasn't even sure if Elena would believe half of it.

She and Damon both had made a mistake yesterday when he'd left her house. Bonnie was saved from having to answer in that moment when Damon's grip on her arm tightened to an almost painful degree and she abruptly turned to look at him.

It seemed the shock was finally wearing off and was being rapidly replaced by panic. Bonnie watched this slide for a few seconds, listened as his breathing picked up in pace before she finally did shake off his grip.

"Dammit." Bonnie turned so that she was standing directly in front of him, and placed her hands on the sides of his face, forcing him to look at her. "Damon!" He wasn't seeing her, however, and she wondered if he could even hear her.

She couldn't imagine what he was going through. Waking up with no memories had to be more than difficult but it wasn't just memories that had been taken from him. She also knew that he had to exhausted, that was a side effect, she knew.

The tortured expression on his face made the guilt come back, stronger than ever and he wasn't snapping out of it. Wanting-needing-to give him some sort of relief, she quickly uttered a small spell and watched as his eyes finally slipped closed.

Quickly moving her grip to under his arms, Bonnie didn't so much catch him as move with him, tipping him back towards the couch. She arranged it so that he was lying flat, lifting his feet up on the couch as well.

Elena, who had been watching the scene with wide eyes, came over. "What the hell is going on?" She demanded. "What's wrong with him?" The worry in her tone was clear and Bonnie pushed back her hair, suddenly feeling exhausted herself.

"It's a long story," she answered with a sigh, her mind going over how she had gotten here, how she had gotten from hating the man unconscious on the couch to this.

Elena crossed her arms, raised an eyebrow and waited. Bonnie glanced around the room. "Think Damon would mind if we raided his liquor cabinet?" She had never been a big drinker but she thought she might need it if she was going to have to tell that story.

"Bonnie," Elena let out with a sigh, tone a mix of pleading and demanding. Bonnie had no clue how she did that but it had the desired effect.

"Fine," Bonnie relented and she began her story.


	3. Chapter 3

I am so sorry about the long, long wait. I've been having a bit of trouble with Vampire Diaries for some reason…

This chapter jumps back.

Xxxxxxxx

Chin resting on the bar, Bonnie reached forward to place her hand flat on top of the glass of water she had ordered. She should probably have been home but she had made up some excuse about going to Elena's with her dad so that she wouldn't have to be.

Things had gone wrong somewhere. She wasn't even sure where. Jeremy was pissed at her. She had no idea why but he'd been acting weird since she'd come back to Mystic Falls. It felt too strange confiding in Elena about it too. Elena was Jeremy's sister.

"Well, well. Now why do you look like you could use something stronger than water?"

Bonnie rolled her head to the side, a scowl automatically forming on her face. "What are you doing here?" She had the urge to look around the place for Elena at the sight of him.

Damon's blue eyes were sparkling with amusement as he answered, "what are you doing here? Isn't it a school night?"

"What am I? Twelve?" It wasn't _that _late. Although, the last thing she wanted was to sit at a bar with Damon.

"I don't know. Sometimes, you do seem to act like it."

"Says the one hundred and fifty year old vampire who likes to pine after teenage girls," Bonnie grumbled.

The comment didn't seem to have the normal affect on Damon and Bonnie eyed him warily, wondered how much he'd had to drink before she'd made her way into the bar. Glancing at her watch, she got up.

"Well, as much as I would love to sit around here and trade insults, I think I'm going to go."

"Oh, yes. We wouldn't want to stay out too late, would we? After all, you can't have too much fun," he said, and she frowned at his tone.

"I can have fun," she said defensively.

"Right. You're a barrel of fun." Damon raised a skeptical eyebrow and Bonnie crossed her arms. It must have been all the stuff that had happened recently but the comments were getting to her in a way they shouldn't, in a way they wouldn't normally.

"Just because I hate you doesn't mean I'm no fun. That just means I have morals. I can have fun."

"Yeah?" And now there was a challenging look in his eyes. "Prove it then." He slid his glass of bourbon over to her. She caught it, stared at it a moment, on the verge of walking out anyway. She didn't need-or want-to prove anything to Damon.

"Come on, Judgy. There must have been a reason you came here. Was it really just to drink water and sulk?"

"I don't sulk," she said even as she recognized the truth in her head. She had come there to sulk, pretty much. Her thoughts went to Jeremy and that was appropriately depressing. And the vampire before her, who she still blamed for screwing up not only her life, but the lives of most of her friends, had her lifting the drink and downing it before she could think about it.

Xxxxxxxx

"I really, really hate you." She wasn't drunk. Her words weren't slurring but she had that nice feeling of a buzz. That nice, almost sleepy, feeling. No matter what the vampire before her might think, she wasn't a total prude. She had done this before.

"Trust me, honey. The feelings mutual."

He, on the other hand, she was convinced was a little drunk and she wondered again how long he'd been drinking before he'd sidled up next to her at the bar.

"You ruined my life and now I'm just…" She waved a hand, trailed off.

"Heard this all before, Judgy," Damon said, a spark of anger in his eyes. "I didn't turn you into a witch. I also didn't force you to join in the battle against Klaus."

"As if I had a choice!" Bonnie's voice rose just a bit. "It was Elena. I couldn't just walk away from that."

"Neither could I."

Bonnie saw it then, that emotion in his eyes that she never wanted to believe might actually be love. It was easier to think that he wasn't capable of it. It was easier when he'd first come to town. When everyone had hated him. She could have set him on fire then and she doubted anyone would have stopped her.

Draining the last of her drink, Bonnie stood. "I have to go," she mumbled.

"You going to stumble home?" Damon asked, the amusement back.

"Got to hell." She walked out then. Didn't notice the guy who had been staring at her all night follow her out just a minute after.

Xxxxxxxx

Finding herself helpless wasn't something Bonnie was used to, especially since she had gotten used to her powers. She had, after all, been powerful enough, just a few months ago, to take out the most powerful vampire in existence.

But there she was, about to be taken out by a little too much alcohol and an asshole from a bar. He'd gone after her when she'd cut through an alley on her way home. Walking seemed the best option, of course.

She was a bit more drunk than she had let on in the bar and that was the only reason why the guy caught her off guard. Had to be. The same guy who had been staring at her the whole night but hadn't had the guts to approach her while she was with Damon.

The alcohol not only succeeded in dulling her senses but it also kept her from calling up her power. She could take down a hundred and fifty year old vampire in an instant but when this guy, this completely human guy, slammed her into the wall of the building in that alley, she found herself helpless.

She tried to fight him off but the back hand she received for that effort left her even more dazed than before, left her reeling and he was on her again. The horror of the situation didn't fully sink into her alcohol numbed brain, at least not until the guy was thrown away from her and she slid down the wall to sit on the ground.

"Damon…"

He looked fierce in that moment, and when he slammed the guy against the opposite wall, Bonnie wasn't sure if he was going to kill the man or not. When she looked down and realized that her shirt was ripped-she hadn't even known he'd done that-a dark part of her thought that she wouldn't have stopped him even if she could.

But Damon didn't kill the guy. Instead, Bonnie saw him stare directly into the man's eyes. She didn't hear what he said but whatever it was, it left a self satisfied smirk on Damon's face as the guy walked off. Bonnie watched him, dazed, and only wondered a moment what Damon had compelled him to do. She hadn't heard…and she decided, she didn't want to know.

Bonnie was still on the ground when Damon turned to her. He knelt before her and shook his head. "You know, I'm beginning to think there's something in the water here. How many times do you and the rest of the humans in this town walk straight into trouble?"

Bonnie attempted to glare at him, holding a hand to her cheek as she tried to stand. He reached for her when she wavered on her feet. She tried to pull away but he didn't allow it. Instead, he lifted her up until he was carrying her.

"Damon…" She wanted to be angry about the situation but the part of her brain that wasn't foggy recognized that he had just saved her from something horrible.

"I know, I know. You hate me, I hate you. But for now, Judgy, I'm all you got."

She would blame it on the alcohol, or on the fact that what had almost just happened to her was finally sinking in and making her hands shake on the fact that she didn't protest again and the fact that she even pressed slightly closer to him.


	4. Chapter 4

_Then_

Bonnie was shaking when Damon walked up her porch steps and stopped in front of her door. Finally, he let her scramble out of his arms and she fumbled with her key until the door opened. Her father's car was not in the drive.

"Don't suppose you're going to invite me in?" He asked with a smirk. He rested his hands on the door frame and leaned closely to her.

"No," she answered automatically. She wanted to slam the door in his face. She wanted to curl up in her bed and forget this night.

"But you're not going to forget this." It sounded like a demand…or a promise.

"I'm going to bed, Damon. Go home." She had been gripping the doorknob since she'd opened it and she was finding it hard to keep herself standing.

"What? No thank you?" He grinned when she only glared at him and held up his hands, backing down her porch steps. She watched him turn and then walk away before going inside, being sure to lock the door before she made her way up to her room.

She only bothered to kick off her shoes before she crawled into bed and curled up on her side, tried to go to sleep.

Xxxxxxx

Bonnie opened the door hesitantly when her knocking received no answer. It was early, really too early for her to be up but she hadn't slept much at all the night before and what little sleep she'd managed had been plagued by nightmares of what might have happened to her if Damon hadn't interfered last night.

Which, of course, was why she was letting herself into the boarding house at too early of an hour in the morning. She'd been thinking about what had almost happened all night and about the brief exchange she and Damon had when they'd reached her house.

Bottom line was…he'd saved her, carried her home, and then hadn't employed his usual verbal barbs with her. Chewing her lip, she started up the stairs. Maybe he was sleeping. It was rather early but…she wasn't even sure if he would have heard her moving around his house if he were sleeping, if he would have woken up at the noise.

She could count on one hand the amount of civil conversations they'd had since they had met. And nearly all of those conversations had revolved around Elena, on how to save Elena, on how to keep Elena safe.

She couldn't ignore what he'd done for her, though. They'd saved each other's lives before, and tried to kill each other but last night had been different. And, although she still neither liked nor trusted him, she also felt…_guilty _that she _hadn't _thanked him for it.

"Snooping around?"

Bonnie spun at his voice. "Asshole," she blurted out, glaring at him and placing one hand on her chest. She'd been so lost in thought…

"Language." Damon's tone was filled with mock reprimand. "Breaking and entering, Judgy?"

Bonnie crossed her arms. "Is it breaking and entering if the doors unlocked?" She asked skeptically.

"I don't know. What's your motive? Couldn't keep away from me?"

"I-" Bonnie cut herself off before she could tell him why she was in his house. Being civil to Damon seemed so unnatural to her. _But he thanked you, didn't he? When he'd thought you'd saved his life?_ "I came to-"

Damon waved a hand before she could finish. "Don't strain yourself, Bennett. Just follow me." He started past her up the stairs but she remained rooted in place. He turned to her. "Well? You want to make it up to me? I have a better way."

Bonnie eyed him warily before following slowly after him. She almost left when he turned to the right and opened the door to a bedroom. For a moment, she thought he was messing with her again, that he was going to be his usual asshole self and she was going to have to give him a migraine if he did do what she was thinking.

Instead, however, he went to the doors on the right side wall and opened them. Bonnie, curiosity getting the better of her, stepped up to them when he backed away. Both insides of the cabinet doors were covered in newspaper clippings and writings. There was a timeline on one side, starting several days after Stefan had left with Klaus and ending just two days ago.

"You've been tracking Klaus?" She glanced over at him. He was leaning against the desk pushed up against the wall nearby and he picked up the bottle of alcohol that had been sitting there. He nodded before taking a drink and Bonnie turned her attention back to the collage.

It was the left side that really brought up her curiosity, however. "And trying to find a way to kill him."

"Haven't had much luck there," he stated. "But I still have my connections."

"We can't kill Klaus. It took everything I had, and that was when I was still connected to the witches, to bring him down," she pointed out.

"There's always another way." He paused, met her gaze. "I still have a few witchy connections. At least, ones that don't completely hate my guts for all the 'horrible things I've done'."

"So, you want my help tracking him down and killing him." She nodded. "Should have known you'd want something."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Oh, get off your moral high ground here, Judgy. I could have left you to fend for yourself last night but I didn't. I could have killed you more times than you can count since we've met but I haven't."

"Because Elena would hate you for it," Bonnie said, turning fully to him.

"And snapping Jeremy's neck really endeared her to me," Damon countered, voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Then why haven't you killed me?" Bonnie stepped away from the wall, closer to him. "I've set you on fire, tried to kill you myself several times. Why haven't you tried the same since that first time in the woods?"

But Damon only smirked at her and dug in his pocket until he pulled a piece of paper out. "We got another lead on where they might be. Ric and I are heading out as soon as he gets his lazy ass over here."

"And what exactly do you want me to do? I'm not your little servant, Damon. Here with a spell at your call."

"Like you wouldn't be doing this anyway. When Elena asks? Killing Klaus keeps everyone safe and you know it. It keeps Elena safe."

"Except Elena doesn't know about this, does she?" Bonnie gestured towards his timeline. Elena had complained to her several times that Damon didn't care that his brother was missing, that he hadn't even been looking.

Damon didn't seem to be listening any longer, though. He went over to his bed and picked up his jacket. "I'll call you when I speak with some contacts. One of them is actually working on something."

"A way to kill Klaus?" Bonnie couldn't help the continued skepticism in her voice.

"Everything dies, Judgy. There's always another way."

Bonnie watched his eyes as he said it, saw the fierceness there and she wondered if he was trying to convince himself as much as he was her.

Xxxxxxxxx

_Now_

"His memories should come back by the time he wakes up," Bonnie said, breaking off from her memories when he shifted on the couch. He didn't wake, at least not yet but she doubted he'd be happy when he did. She brushed the hair from his forehead and he settled.

"He never told me he was tracking Klaus," Elena said and she sounded mildly angry about this fact. "I found that out on my own."

"I know." Bonnie leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees but didn't get up from the edge of the couch. She needed to be there when Damon woke. Her spell had worked but that was the problem. There had been some…complications.

"You guys hated each other," Elena pointed out.

Bonnie opened her mouth to answer, to maybe continue on her explanation about how things had changed while Elena hadn't been looking but stopped when Damon shifted again. A feeling of trepidation welling in her, Bonnie turned to face him and was met with tired blue eyes.

"Damon…" She put a hand on his shoulder.

"It worked." It wasn't really a question. She was sure he could feel the difference but she answered anyway.

"Yes." She hesitated a moment. "But-"

He pushed her hand aside and sat up. "I thought you said-"

"It was delayed," Bonnie cut him off. "I thought I'd botched something to but it was only delayed."

"Okay." He shrugged and then rolled his shoulders, a frown on his face. "You here to reverse it?"

Bonnie hesitated and shook her head. "Damon…I'm sorry. I miscalculated on an important part of the spell. I can try and reverse it but I…I doubt I can."

"What's going on?" Elena cut him, her gaze darting between Bonnie and Damon. "What does this mean?"

For a moment, they were both silent before Damon finally answered her. "It means we might finally have a way to take Klaus down."

"Damon." Guilt squeezed her insides again and Damon turned to her. She saw it in his eyes, asking her not to tell Elena the full consequences of her spell, asking her not to tell Elena that he was back to where he had been before Stefan had sold himself to Klaus. Dying, again.


	5. Chapter 5

Quotes in italics are taken directly from episode one of season three. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and stuck with this story despite the long hiatus. You guys are awesome.

_Then _

"I told you," Bonnie said, placing her hands on the table, over the map and glaring at Damon. "I told you this wouldn't work. I've already tried tracking Klaus. He's blocking me." She held up a hand when Damon opened his mouth to counter. "He's blocking Stefan too. Besides, what good does it do? Tracking them when, as you have already pointed out, you have no way of killing him."

Damon shrugged where he was sitting, his gaze focused past her, to the open closet doors. "Worth a shot." He stood and held up a piece of paper before tacking it to one side of the wall.

"Another one?" Bonnie asked with a frown.

"Mmmhmm."

"You still haven't told Elena about this." It wasn't a question. Elena's birthday was coming up and the girl was miserable. Damon was part of the reason for that.

"She doesn't need to know," Damon answered idly.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and sighed. She got the feeling that there was something _she _didn't know quite yet about this, something Damon was holding back from her. She wanted to press him about that.

She'd agreed to help him. It had been a not so surprisingly easy decision to make. He was right, after all. Klaus needed to die. They needed this constant threat gone and although she didn't like or trust Damon, he would probably be her only chance at succeeding. He was the one tracking Klaus, and the one using every connection he'd obtained in the one hundred and fifty years since he'd been turned to find a way to destroy Klaus once and for all.

"Who knew you had so many friends," Bonnie commented, her own gaze to the left door.

"Well, I wouldn't say friends," Damon said with some amusement. "But not everyone hates me with the burning passion you do, Judgy."

Bonnie gave him one of those long suffering looks. "I have to go."

Damon didn't answer, his attention on the newest bit of information about what Klaus had been up to. Bonnie only briefly hesitated before leaving the house. She had agreed to meet Jeremy and she was going to be late if she didn't leave.

She had noticed a change in Damon since she had come back to Mystic Falls. Stefan's departure had apparently done that. There was that fierce determination that she'd seen in his eyes on several occasions. Bonnie had no doubt that he'd find his brother and that he'd die trying to get Stefan away from Klaus.

Xxxxxxxx

Bonnie spotted Jeremy waiting for her as soon as she walked into the grill. She frowned slightly. He'd been working there for the summer and asked her to meet him when his shift was over. Like Damon, he had changed since she'd been gone as well. Unlike Damon, however, she couldn't figure out what had caused the change in Jeremy.

"Hey," Jeremy said with a strained smile when she walked over to the table he was sitting at.

"Hey." She sat across from him and he immediately reached over to grab her hand.

"I'm glad you're here."

Bonnie's frown deepened. "Really?" Because he hadn't seemed so happy to see her when she'd first come back to Mystic Falls.

"Yeah, look. I know I've been acting a little weird lately and I'm sorry about that."

Bonnie's frown finally faded at the sincerity in his eyes. "It's okay," she said with some relief, finally relaxing.

Xxxxxxxxx

"So, happy to be home?" Elena asked her later while they were sitting at the kitchen island in Elena's kitchen, eating. Bonnie shrugged.

"Sure, I guess." It had been nice, she supposed, being away from Mystic Falls for a little bit. Even if it meant being away from Jeremy and her friends.

Elena nodded. She'd seemed distracted since Bonnie had arrived. "What's going on with you?" Bonnie finally asked, calling her out on it.

"It's…nothing."

"Nothing?" Bonnie tilted her head. "That usually means its Stefan these days."

Elena sighed. "Look, you just got back…I don't want to drag you back into this stuff."

"Except I'm already in it, Elena," Bonnie pointed out. "I've been in it since I found out I was a witch."

"It's just…I think I found another lead."

"Another one?" Bonnie frowned, wondered if Damon knew yet and held out her hand. "Let's see it."

"You know, its fine. I'm going over to the boarding house later, see if I can get Damon to at least show some interest this time." Elena's voice had turned exasperated and Bonnie said nothing. If Damon wanted to keep the girl in the dark, that was his business. Besides, Bonnie understood his reasoning. The only reason Elena was alive was because Klaus didn't know she was.

"Okay," Bonnie said with a shrug. Damon would probably call her later. Those calls were becoming regular, the updates on what he was doing to track down Klaus and his progress on trying to find a way to take Klaus down. It irked her that Damon had become a part of her speed dial but they needed to kill Klaus and she supposed she could deal with it, at least for a little while.

"You ever think you're wrong? I mean, Damon can't just not care about his brother, right?" She asked abruptly, genuinely curious.

"I know he cares about Stefan. At least I thought he did. But he's not even looking, Bonnie. Every time we get another clue to where Stefan and Klaus are or where they've been, he just brushes me off."

Bonnie's eyebrows drew together. She wondered how Elena hadn't seen the determination she'd seen in Damon's eyes earlier. It had been as plain as day to her. Then again, Elena had been rather distracted and she hadn't seen the papered walls of Damon's closet.

"But you're not going to go after him?" It was only half question. Elena's plan only seemed centered around finding Klaus and Stefan and nothing after that. It wasn't as if just finding them would do any good, though. Not when Klaus could kill them all without blinking.

"I need to find him, Bonnie. I need to know…at least know if he's alright."

"Just…promise you won't do anything alone?" Bonnie asked. After a moment, Elena nodded.

"Yeah, alright."

Xxxxxxxx

"She shouldn't be here." Alaric was glaring at Damon as they got out of his car and the words were something he had repeated several times since Damon had asked Bonnie to come with them.

"She's fine," Damon said dismissively. "You're fine, right Judgy?"

"Sure," Bonnie answered, throwing a glare at Damon herself. "I still don't think this is going to work."

"Don't be such a pessimist." Damon sauntered up to the house with Ric and Bonnie following.

Bonnie braced herself as he opened the door and went inside. She walked in closely behind Damon and fought the urge to grab a hold of the nearest person when she passed the bloodstained walls. She wondered when she'd ever get completely used to seeing that and then worried about when she would.

When they made it in to the living room and found the two dead girls, sitting up on the couch and bloody, Bonnie put the back of her hand to her mouth and Alaric groaned.

"_Vampire, for sure_," he said with a grimace.

Damon seemed to hesitate, looking back to meet Bonnie's gaze. "_Stefan, for sure_."

_"How do you know?" _Alaric asked, although he seemed unsurprised at Damon's declaration.

Damon's gaze was still focused on Bonnie, though, as he continued. "_It's his signature. There's a reason they call him The Ripper. He feeds so hard, he blacks out and rips them apart but then-" _Damon paused, finally looked away from Bonnie to move closer to the bodies. "_When he's done, he feels remorse. It's the damndest thing. Puts the bodies back together." _

He nudged one of them and Bonnie felt her disgust rise when her head fell off. She shook her head and then turned around, heading back out the way they'd come.

"Come on, Judgy," Damon called after her as she made it outside. "Don't be so uptight. You've seen dead bodies before."

Bonnie spun on him with a glare. "You should have told me about this…that Stefan was…"

"Was what?" Damon stepped closer to her, almost into her personal space. "Killing people? Really, and I thought _you _were the one who had your eyes open about vampires."

Bonnie ran a hand through her hair, her glare not letting up. "This is why you haven't told Elena, isn't it?"

Damon shrugged. "She's in denial. Thinks that everything will be okay as long as she can find him. She's in denial about him, thinks there's no possible way he could go this off the rails. Thought you were smarter than that, Judgy."

"You have to tell her, Damon. She's chasing after him and she doesn't know about this. She still thinks this is Klaus' killing spree…"

Disbelief entered Damon's expression. "You really think that'll help?" He asked incredulously. "'No, Damon. If I could just get to him and tell him how I feel…'" He gave her an over exaggerated imitation of Elena. "Even if she believes me, it's not going to stop her. So, the only option I have is to find Stefan and kill Klaus before she gets her pretty little head taken off just like those girls back there. Are you going to help me with that or not?"

Bonnie considered his words a moment before letting out an exasperated breath. He was right. She hated that. He could see the conclusion forming in her head before she spoke.

"Good. Now, the bodies are still pretty fresh which means he hasn't been gone long."

It was the reason he had brought her along. Her tracking spell, the newest one she had would work better if she was in a place Stefan had recently been in. "Fine." She let out a frustrated breath and pushed past him, heading back into the house.

Xxxxxxxxxx

_Now_

"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" Bonnie asked. She was watching Damon as he pulled the bottle of alcohol from his liquor cabinet.

"Why not? What exactly do I have to lose?" He walked past her to sit back down on the couch and Bonnie sighed. Elena had left, only after Bonnie had convinced her that someone needed to go gather the others.

Bonnie only hesitated a moment before she went to sit beside him, closely to him, her gaze wondering a bit. He slouched down on the couch, his head resting against the back making himself appear shorter than her in that moment.

"You got any idea how long it's going to take this time?" He asked finally.

"No…" She chewed her lip.

"You got any idea what went wrong?"

"I didn't have what I was supposed to," she admitted. She scowled at the thought. The witch that had given her the spell, that Damon had tracked down himself had left out a vital part of it. He reached for her hand and she allowed it, she allowed him to thread his fingers through hers.

"I can still try to reverse it," she offered. "I'm going to but-"

"I get it," he cut her off. "It's okay, Judgy." His smirk came back after a moment. "You should just promise that you are going to kick Klaus' ass."

"We should go," she said, standing and pulling him to his feet. She'd asked Elena to gather everyone at her house, a place that Stefan had yet to be invited into. With the control Klaus still had over him, they couldn't risk him overhearing anything.

His eyes darkened. "Yeah, we should. Let's go take this bastard down."

"Right." And Bonnie really tried to take the good side of it, to focus on the fact that something good might come of it but it was hard when she felt mild shaking of Damon's hand in hers.


	6. Chapter 6

I've been thinking about the nature of this spell for a while now and I'm still a little unsure about it. When I started this fic, I was a bit worried about it but I need to put in the details of it to make the fic work, of course. Hope it's not too stupid.

Some Damon and Stefan interaction in this chapter, which I was actually planning on putting in the next chapter not this one but someone asked for more Stefan and Damon interaction so I figured why not?

Xxxxxxxxx

_Then_

There was something surreal about the situation Damon had found himself in. After watching Stefan compel Andie into killing herself and then destroying Stefan's room, he sat in the wreckage with a bottle of alcohol and, for the first time since Stefan had disappeared with Klaus, unsure on what he should do.

He wondered idly if this was how Stefan had felt when Damon had killed the football coach. There had been a shift in Stefan after that, however momentarily it had lasted, but it had been enough for Stefan to lock him in the cellar and resolve to let him rot down there.

Elena was pissed at him…_again _but at that moment, he didn't care. The almost sick feeling was something he hadn't felt since the last night he'd been human and it had nothing to do with Elena.

Shaking his head, he tried to think past the initial reaction he'd had to what Stefan had done. There was more to it than that. Stefan had never been great at hiding what he was feeling. It was always in his eyes.

There had been desperation in Stefan's eyes tonight. He'd been pleading silently with Damon. To stop chasing him, to leave it alone. The more he thought about it, the more that sick feeling faded and his original resolve started to come back.

"Ah, _idiot_!" The scathing word left his mouth as he got up and left the room. He left the mess too. Stefan could clean it up when Damon dragged him back to Mystic Falls.

Xxxxxxxxx

"You told Elena you were giving up?" Bonnie had her arms crossed and was glaring when Damon didn't so much as move. He was still sitting on the edge of the desk, his gaze still trained on the papered walls of his closet.

"She has this crazy idea that she can pull Stefan back on the wagon just by talking to him," Damon answered.

"And you think by making her think you've given up that she'll somehow change her mind about that?"

"No." Damon turned his gaze on her finally and he smirked. "But it might keep her from actually finding anything."

"You really think Stefan might hurt Elena?" Bonnie asked cautiously, chewing her lip. She had been worried about that possibility since Damon had told her that he was tracking Stefan's killing spree, _not _Klaus'.

Damon made a face. "No," he said, his tone implying that the very thought was ridiculous.

"You're sure about that?"

He rolled his eyes. "I know my brother."

"The same one that likes to rip girls apart?" She asked a little skeptically.

"Yes, I know that one too. Almost as well as the bunny eating, angst riddled version."

Bonnie stepped closer to him. "You're talking about it like a split personality," she said with a grimace. She paused. "I've heard him talk about that switch…"

Damon hesitated a moment before answering. "I don't think Stefan had his switch on off since he was first turned."

"What?"

He shrugged and got up off the edge of the desk. "You don't feel remorse when it is."

Bonnie considered this a moment before she sighed. "You got anything else?" She pressed him because she did realize that she had been sucked into another conversation with him. It was weird…since he'd saved her from that creep in that alley, and she'd agreed to work with him to find and kill Klaus, they'd actually been pretty civil towards one another.

"Not yet."

Bonnie saw that determination in his eyes again and she figured that he would find something though, that he'd keep trying until he did.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Damon stayed where he was for several minutes after Bonnie left, more convinced than ever that he was right after the conversation they'd had. He had seen Stefan with his emotions turned off. He had seen that after they'd first been turned.

This was different. Stefan may have been killing people in the same fashion he had been years ago but he still wasn't the same guy he had been back then. He _knew _this was all Klaus. Stefan had made the deal and he was following through on it.

He needed to take Klaus down. It was the only way that he was going to be able to drag Stefan back home.

Xxxxxxxxxx

_Now_

"Bonnie, what's going on?"

Three sets of eyes were trained on her as she paced her living room, her mind on the reversal spell, still trying to work out a way for it to work. Damon had opted out of coming with her, pointing out that he wasn't even supposed to be able to come into her house. Bonnie had almost told him that she didn't care about that but she'd stopped herself, recognized the real reasons behind his decision not to attend this little meeting.

"We've found a way to kill Klaus," Bonnie stated plainly, looking to Alaric, Caroline, and Elena in turn.

"What?" Caroline straightened where she was sitting on the couch. "You're kidding…"

Bonnie shook her head. "No, I'm not."

"It's what you did to Damon, right?" Elena asked. "He's dying too, isn't he?"

Bonnie shook her head. "I'm going to reverse it. He asked me to test it out. We weren't even sure it would work but it did, at least it did on Damon."

"But you can reverse it?" Elena pressed. "Because you said earlier that you couldn't…"

Bonnie almost groaned. Elena had been in the room when she'd said that…taking a deep breath, she met Elena's gaze. "I can reverse it. I wasn't sure, thought I couldn't…but I can," she lied calmly.

"Are you sure?" Elena asked uncertainly.

"I'm sure." She certainly sounded sure, even to herself but Damon had asked her to do it. She didn't like it and they would eventually find out the truth but she owed him and if he wanted a little more time before he had to have that conversation again, she would give it to him.

"What's the spell?" Ric asked, drawing her attention.

"It'll draw out everything unnatural about him first. Strength, speed, the extra durability that all vampires have. The ability to digest blood properly…If we just leave him after I finish the spell, he'll die slow but…I wouldn't recommend leaving him alone afterwards."

"How is that possible?" Caroline asked with a frown. "You needed the help of the witches to take Klaus down before. How can you manage this without killing yourself?"

"Vampires are unnatural," Bonnie pointed out. "And all witches have an inherent connection to nature. But you're right. I'll need the witches help to pull this off. But it can be done and it actually won't be as difficult as killing Klaus outright."

"You think you can get the witches on your side again?" Ric asked with a hint of skepticism.

"I already have." Bonnie straightened. "One last time, one last spell. To take Klaus down. For good."

Ric, Caroline, and Elena were all silent for several moments before Elena spoke up again. "What do you want us to do?"

Xxxxxxxxxx

The ache had already started. Damon laid his head back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, the bottle of alcohol forgotten beside him, at least for the moment. He hadn't expected it to start so soon. He wondered briefly if Bonnie was doing what he'd asked but his attention was occupied by another when he lifted his head and spotted Stefan standing a few feet away, in front of him.

"What do you want, Stefan?" He asked tiredly, picking up the bottle again and opening it. Stefan was in front of him in a flash and had taken the bottle. "Hey, I am trying to get wasted here."

"You remember me?" The expression on Stefan's face was, for the moment, unreadable.

"Yes, I remember you. Now, would you give me back my booze?" Damon was mildly exasperated at this situation. He didn't want to talk to this Stefan, at least not then. Not the Stefan who was still under Klaus' control.

"What the hell happened to you, Damon?"

"I had a momentary lapse," Damon said, pushing to his feat. If Stefan wouldn't give him that bottle back, he'd go find another. But Stefan seemed hell bent on not letting him do the only thing he really wanted to right then because just as fast as he had taken the alcohol before, he was blocking Damon's path to the liquor cabinet.

"You were bleeding." Stefan was frowning and Damon could have sworn he saw a hint of concern in his brothers green eyes.

"Yes, Stefan. I do bleed when someone busts my head open." He tried to push past Stefan and was frustrated at his still waning strength when he couldn't.

"Tell me what's going on," Stefan demanded.

"Why?" Damon scowled at him. "I thought you didn't care anymore?" He watched Stefan's eyes closely as he said it and saw the flicker there, that pause that he was looking for. "Even through compulsion…" Damon shook his head.

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Stefan." He stepped right into his brother's personal space. "If I said I was dying? If I said the witch screwed up worse than you think and I'm going to die slow…"

Stefan pushed him then, just hard enough to send him back a few steps. "If this is some ploy to get me back…it's not going to work." He tossed the bottle towards Damon, who caught it just as Stefan sped from the room.

Damon's eyes narrowed. Whatever Stefan thought, the next time Klaus showed his face in Mystic Falls, it wouldn't matter. It would all be over soon.


	7. Chapter 7

The first part of this chapter takes place during and after The Hybrid.

_Then_

Bonnie frowned when she stopped outside Jeremy's door. She'd left the boarding house shortly after she'd arrived, actually and she really just felt like she needed to be around Jeremy for a bit after spending time with Damon.

She had stopped, however, when she heard his voice. Sounded like he was talking to someone. She knocked on his door then, wondered who he could possibly be talking to. Elena had been the one to let her in.

"Hey," he said with a slightly strained smile when he opened the door and she glanced around the room when he stepped back to let her in.

"Who were you talking to? I heard you talking to someone," she said, a little confused. He was alone in his room.

"Oh…I was just talking to myself," Jeremy answered, his gaze sliding away from hers.

"Oh." A feeling of unease settled into Bonnie's chest because it sounded like he was lying but he _was _alone and his voice had been the only one she'd heard…

"So, what have you been up to?" He asked and Bonnie forced a smile this time.

"Nothing much." This time, guilt settled in on her for the lie but just wasn't sure she wanted Jeremy to know what she was doing just yet. He'd either freak about her being involved or want to get involved himself…

"You want to grab something to eat?"

"Sure." Her smile came easier when he put his arm around her and she let him pull her out.

Xxxxxxxx

Guilt squeezed Jeremy's insides as he left with Bonnie. He was lying to her, of course but he couldn't tell her that he was seeing Anna. Or that it was her fault that he was. She wouldn't take that well.

But he also couldn't stop talking to Anna. Seeing her only brought everything back, everything he had felt for her. Everything that had been cut short because of John and his vendetta. He only felt more guilty for that.

Xxxxxxxx

Bonnie let herself into the boarding house less than an hour later. She had come over after the date with Jeremy. The weirdness he'd been displaying since she'd gotten back to Mystic Falls hadn't dissipated in the slightest. He'd seemed downright distracted. She needed a distraction herself.

She usually did let herself into Damon's house. He had taken to not answering the door. She supposed it was because Elena usually let herself in as well. She found him as soon as she made it inside, coming down the stairs and putting on his jacket.

"You might want to turn back around. I got nothing for you, Judgy," he commented. She frowned and followed him into the parlor, watched as he grabbed the keys to his car.

"You're leaving?" She asked.

"Yes." He turned to her, raised an eyebrow. "I do leave the house from time to time."

"But you found something?"

"What makes you say that?" He started around her; towards t he door but Bonnie grabbed his arm. He did stop and turn back to her.

"You did find something, didn't you? What is it?" She pressed.

"Don't worry about it. All I need from you is to kill Klaus when we find a way-"

"And track Stefan, right?" Bonnie crossed her arms. "How exactly do you plan on me helping if you're keeping things from me?" She glared at him to emphasize the point.

"Fine. Klaus and Stefan have been tracking werewolves. I think I might know where they'll be tonight. I'm going. Happy?" He started away again and Bonnie moved to catch up with him, grabbed his arm once again.

"Wait. Isn't tonight a full moon? You're going on a full moon?"

Damon opened the door. "Still daylight, isn't it?" He grinned. "You're not worried about me, are you?"

"Of course not," Bonnie answered immediately. "What I'm worried about is you getting yourself killed before we can finish this." She paused, hesitated. This could be the distraction she was looking for. Besides, he really was her only hope at that point of finding a way to take Klaus down for good.

"I'm going with you," she finally decided.

"No, you're not. Werewolves and Klaus, Judgy. You'll only be a distraction I don't need. I don't need to be worrying about keeping you alive."

Bonnie's glare strengthened. "I can take care of myself, Damon," she pointed out. "If you want more proof of that…"

He actually almost smiled at this and shook his head. "Fine. But we leave before the moon rises."

"Agreed." She definitely didn't want to be stuck with a bunch of werewolves on a full moon.

Xxxxxxxx

Ric was a little frustrated. He and Elena were on their way to track down a bunch of werewolves that Klaus was supposedly after. She'd convinced him to go along. Not that he had much choice. If he hadn't, the girl probably would have run there by herself.

The problem was that he couldn't get a hold of Damon. Despite what he'd said to Elena, he tried calling Damon the first chance he got. They would need the backup but Damon's phone was going straight to voicemail and he had no one else to call.

When they reached the woods, he couldn't even try. He had no service where they were and he was further frustrated at this, could at least hope that Damon checked his voicemail. If Damon was ignoring his phone calls on purpose, he was going to kill the vampire himself.

Xxxxxxxx

"What exactly do you plan on doing if you do find them?" Bonnie asked, her gaze sweeping the woods they were walking in. She'd been thinking about that question for a while. Damon had yet to find a way to really get Stefan away from Klaus.

"Honestly? Not here to try and kill Klaus or to try and get Stefan away from him yet."

"Then why are we-" Bonnie cut off when her foot caught on something and she nearly face planted on the ground. Or, she would have if Damon hadn't moved to catch her. He righted her with a grip on her upper arm and she brushed her hair back.

They were standing close. "Why are we here then?" She finished her question. Damon stared at her a moment before releasing her.

"Keep moving, will you?" He started out and Bonnie sighed before following. Maybe she knew the answer to that question anyway. They couldn't kill Klaus and trying to get Stefan away from him at that point would probably only get them both killed. The only thing they could really do was confirm that Stefan was alive, that he was okay. Well, okay other than the fact that he was killing people.

Bonnie had gotten a lot of new insight into Damon and Stefan's relationship since she had started working with Damon and she wasn't as surprised as she would have been before. While she still didn't totally trust Damon or like him, she was a hundred percent sure that he cared about his brother and that that was the only reason they were hiking through the woods.

Xxxxxxxxx

Stefan stared down at the werewolf bite a moment. Klaus had refused to give him the cure to it, at least until he tracked down the very rabid looking hybrid experiment. Just his luck. But a part of him wondered if it would be better.

Ever since he had seen Damon in Mystic Falls, since he'd killed the reporter in front of his brother, he'd had a harder time losing himself in the blood, in the guy that he had been over the last several months with Klaus.

Calling Elena had been a mistake. Seeing Damon had been as well, although he hoped that one good thing had come of it, that his brother had given up on the chase. That hope, however, was dashed a moment later when he heard the voices in the distance.

"_I could help you…you know." _

_"I don't think so. I'd really like not to be that close to you." _

Stefan turned his gaze towards the voices just as he heard his brother chuckle and saw Damon and Bonnie hiking through the woods several yards away. He nearly cursed, and was unsure of what to do in that moment.

He knew he couldn't let Klaus know they were there. But there was also the dying hybrid he had to worry about, the one that they didn't know about. He almost went straight to them but stopped himself. Hopefully, Klaus would stay at the camp.

Xxxxxxx

Bonnie was focusing on the trek. They were almost there and she was still worried about what they were going to do once they got there. She wondered if there was even a way for Damon to speak to his brother without letting Klaus know.

She almost plowed right into Damon when he stopped abruptly, though. "What?"

He didn't answer right away and he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were trained somewhere off to the side. "Dammit."

Xxxxxxx

"We got about a mile left," Ric commented, the frown still on his face.

They both stopped short and Ric raised his crossbow when a man stumbled into the opening between the trees in front of them. "Stay where you are," he ordered, his finger on the trigger.

"What the…?" Elena had a frown on her face as well. The man's face was bloody. It looked like his eyes had been bleeding and he snarled at the both of them. Before Ric could even think about pulling the trigger, he launched himself towards them.

He never made contact with either of them, though. Something slammed into him from the side, moving faster than either Ric or Elena could see. The guy fought back and it wasn't until he had his attacker pressed up against a tree that Ric recognized who it was.

"Damon!" The call did not come from Ric or Elena.

"Bonnie?" Elena asked in surprise. She ignored Elena, in favor of the werewolf that was snapping at Damon. A second later, the werewolf dropped to the ground, clutching his skull and Elena seemed to come back to herself, tossing Damon one of the wolfs bane grenades from the backpack. It exploded in the werewolves face. Well, the sight of Damon explained why he hadn't been able to get a hold of the vampire on his phone.

"You didn't get bit, did you?" Bonnie asked, coming over as Damon pressed the wolf up against the tree and Elena and Ric tied him to it.

"I'm fine," Damon answered, his tone frustrated.

"Good, I'd hate it if you died on me before we could actually follow through on your plan."

"It's nice to know how much you care, Judgy."

"What are you both doing here?" Elena interrupted. She sounded rather irritated.

"I could ask you the same question. Are you insane? I'm beginning to think that you do have a death wish," Damon said with a glare in her direction.

"I had to come up here. And you'd given up on me. Obviously that was another one of your lies."

"Damon," Bonnie cut off whatever it was he was going to say in response. She grabbed his arm, and directed his attention towards the hybrid, that had just woken up. She saw the confusion on his face when the guy began to change and strain against the ropes.

He pressed his hands back against the guy's chest, trying to keep him in place. "Bonnie?" He requested, using her first name for the first time.

"It's not working," she answered, angry. "We need to get out of here." She watched in horror at how fast the man was changing. "Damon!" She yelled when he didn't move.

"Yeah." And they were gone, dragging Elena along with them.

Xxxxxxx

"_She's not going to give up on you." _

_"Well, she has to. Because I'm never coming back." _

Damon said nothing to that. Maybe it was true. Maybe Stefan didn't ever plan on coming back to Mystic Falls. Didn't matter, he was still going to get Stefan away from Klaus. It was when Stefan reached up and wiped his forehead, that Damon saw it and moving fast, he grabbed Stefan's arm.

"What the hell is this?" He forcefully turned Stefan's arm so he could look at the bite. It was a familiar sight, mirroring the one he'd had on the inside of his own elbow a couple of months ago.

"It's fine," Stefan said, pulling away.

"Fine?" Damon repeated, his temper rising. "Klaus…"

"Knows about it," Stefan answered reluctantly.

"And he didn't heal it?" Damon asked, the anger he had been feeling growing.

Stefan hesitated a moment. "He will."

"And you're _still_ a horrible liar."

Stefan looked away from him a moment and spoke reluctantly. "He told me to bring the hybrid back…alive."

Damon cursed at the meaning behind those words. At the fact that Stefan had just most likely sacrificed himself for Damon…again. His anger turned to rage and, for a moment, he felt the urge to find Klaus. Stefan must have seen in it his eyes.

"Just go, Damon. Get Elena home and try to keep her there this time. Get Bonnie out of here. If Klaus finds out there here…Just…go." He was gone a second later, disappearing off into the woods.

Xxxxxxxx

"What the hell were you doing up here?" Elena asked the question later.

"What were you doing up here?" Bonnie countered distractedly. Damon had lured the hybrid off what felt like forever ago and had yet to return to them. Bonnie had followed Ric and Elena back to Ric's car and he'd moved it to park beside Damon's.

"I had to find Stefan," Elena answered finally and Bonnie only nodded. Seemed she and Damon were up there for the same reason. Bonnie let out a breath when she saw Damon stalking towards them.

He assured Elena briefly that he was alright, that he had no bites before pushing her towards Ric's car, ignoring her protests. It wasn't until he'd started over to his own car that he turned his gaze on Bonnie.

"You coming?"

Bonnie glanced briefly at Elena and Ric, knew it would only cause more questions but something had obviously happened when he'd ran off from them and she wanted to know what that was. Plus, she wasn't looking forward to an interrogation about why she had been there with Damon in the first place.

"Yeah." She avoided the look on Elena's face and jumped into the passenger seat of Damon's car. "You going to tell me what happened?"

"Later," he answered shortly, starting the car.

Xxxxxxxx

It wasn't until they had stopped in front of the boarding house that Bonnie finally got an answer out of him. He'd been silently fuming all the way back to Mystic Falls, which only confirmed for her that something big had happened. Damon was almost never silent.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on now?" She asked after he stopped the car.

"None of this even matters anymore," he said. She got the impression that he was talking to himself more than her and he was out of the car, slamming the door.

Bonnie stared after him a moment before she got out as well. He'd already made it inside the boarding house before she'd managed to close the passenger side door and she considered her options.

She could get in her own car and drive away. The thought that maybe he didn't want anyone there crossed her mind. But he had asked her to drive back with him, and she needed to know what he meant. Needed to know if he had run across Klaus or Stefan.

He may have been lying to Elena earlier with his claim of giving up but now, he sure looked like he really had. Making a decision, she marched up to the house and went inside. It didn't take long to find him. He was in front of the papered walls of his closet. The map he had put up was still there.

"What's going on?" She asked quietly. He didn't answer her. Instead he pulled the map down, balled it up in his hands. The look in his eyes was a bit unstable and Bonnie was unsure if her decision to follow him inside had been a good one. That was, of course, until she heard his ringtone go off and he pulled his phone out.

She didn't know what message he had received but whatever it was had him dropping the map in his hands. The mix of emotions she had seen just seconds ago was replaced with relief so strong that she was sure a blind person would have been able to see it. When he looked up at her, met her gaze, it was still there.

"I have to get him away from Klaus. I have to," he said. For the moment, there was no sarcasm or mocking in his eyes or his voice. Just raw honesty. Bonnie was shocked by it and there was only one way she could answer that.

"We will."

Xxxxxxxx

_Now_

"You didn't tell them?" Damon asked, offering Bonnie a glass. She shook her head, frown on her face.

"No, I didn't." She paused and watched as he dropped down on his couch with his own glass of alcohol. "They are going to find out, though."

"Not until after, they won't," Damon countered. Bonnie nodded and sat down beside him.

"The plan's set. This should be over soon." She sighed and looked down. "Damon…"

"Don't, Judgy. It doesn't matter."

She grimaced and rested her head back against the couch. She was aware of a lot of things. Aware that he was dying beside her, aware that, after everything that had happened since they'd started working together on this, that maybe the price for success was too high. When she spoke, she made her voice firm.

"It does matter." And no matter what he said, she would do everything in her power to make sure that she saved him.


	8. Chapter 8

_Then_

"Wait, you're serious?" Bonnie's voice was incredulous as she stepped out of her car in front of Elena's house, phone held in one hand.

"_I'm always serious," _Damon answered with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. She stayed beside her car for the moment. "So, this witch…"

"_Owes me one," _Damon finished for her. "_She _may_ also hate me a whole hell of a lot more than you do." _

"I wonder why," Bonnie said wryly. She chewed her lip and sighed. "This weekend, I'll go. Talk to her."

"_You ready to spend hours alone in a car with me?" _His tone had turned amused and halfway suggestive. Before Bonnie could reply with something scathing, however, Elena's front door opened and the girl stopped short, as she had just been about to leave.

"Bonnie?"

"Gotta go," Bonnie said to Damon, closing her phone before he could answer. "Hey."

"Who were you talking to?" Elena asked, suspicion in her eyes.

Bonnie shrugged. "Just my dad," she lied. "Jeremy here?" She was already making her way past Elena.

"In his room."

Bonnie could practically feel Elena's eyes on her as she went inside and she had to suppress another sigh. She had expected Elena to question her about why she'd been with Damon up in those woods but so far, that hadn't happened.

She knew Elena had been pissed at Damon before, pissed that he hadn't told her that he'd been searching for Stefan and then pissed that he'd lied to her about giving up on his brother. She got the impression Elena wasn't exactly happy with her either but so far, Elena hadn't said anything to her.

Bonnie knocked on Jeremy's door when she made it up to his room, waited for his answer before going inside. He was sitting on his bed, his laptop open and she stopped a few feet from his bed when he looked up at her and glared.

"What are you doing here?" He asked first.

Bonnie frowned. "What's the matter with you?" She countered.

"Nothing. I'm just wondering. Shouldn't you be with Damon?"

"Damon?" Bonnie asked, surprised. Then she stilled and felt a spark of anger. "Elena tell you something?"

"No, actually I overheard her and Ric talking about their trip. But it really shouldn't matter, should it? What were you doing up there? Why were you with Damon?" The anger in his voice grew as he spoke.

Bonnie hesitated a moment before answering. But he already knew…"I've been working with him. He thinks he might have some connections that could have a way to kill Klaus."

"Right. And you just weren't going to tell me about it?"

Bonnie's eyes narrowed and anger settled in on her as well. "I'm just working with him."

"And keeping it from me," Jeremy pointed out. "I thought you were done treating me like a kid."

"It wasn't about treating you like a kid. And what about you? If we want to talk about keeping things from each other."

Jeremy stiffened and his tone turned defensive. "I'm not keeping things from you."

"Yes, you are. I know you are. You've been acting strange since I got back. You can't berate me for keeping things from you and then lie to me, Jeremy."

She saw it when the anger died in Jeremy's eyes and he slumped a little. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing," Bonnie protested. "It's making you act different. Just…tell me. Whatever it is-"

"It's Anna," he cut her off.

"Anna?" Bonnie froze a second. "Your dead ex-girlfriend, Anna?"

Jeremy nodded. "I've been seeing her. Actually, I've been seeing both her and Vickie."

Bonnie stared at him a moment before she got her voice back. "You've been seeing them?" She repeated.

Jeremy nodded. "She says it's because I died. Says that was the consequence," he revealed.

Bonnie was silent again. Her first instinct should have been disbelief but after living in Mystic Falls for so long…she was, after all, a witch who was helping a century and a half year old vampire who had tried to kill her once track down and kill a seemingly all powerful vampire-werewolf hybrid.

Bonnie sat down heavily on the edge of his bed. "You're seeing ghosts." She paused. "Okay….I'll find a way to fix it…"

Bonnie saw guilt build in his expression.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, fidgeting where he was sitting.

"No, I saw that. What is it? You know a way?"

More guilt and he hesitated. "Anna says…" He let out a breath. "She says that the only reason she's here, and that she's staying here, is because I want her here."

Bonnie froze. "Right," she said after a moment. "And you've been seeing them all summer?" Her voice was barely controlled.

"Yes." He paused and straightened again. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner and it's not what you think. It's just…I think about here and she shows up."

Bonnie stood again, agitated. "Is she here now?"

"No…I think that's her decision, though," he admitted. "Look, I'm not the only one keeping secrets. You and Damon-"

"I've never dated Damon," Bonnie cut him off. "I don't have feelings for Damon. The only reason I'm spending time with him now is to find a way to take Klaus down. You still have feelings for Anna?"

"What would it matter?" Jeremy asked a little morosely. "She's dead."

"It matters to me," Bonnie said, eyes wide. "It matters if you aren't over her. Not just because you can see her now."

"Bonnie…"

"Just tell me if you're really over her or not. Please."

Silence was her only answer.

Xxxxxxx

Elena stopped a moment when she got out of her car in front of the boarding house. She had been debating this course of action since she had returned home after catching Bonnie and Damon together, hunting down Stefan.

She didn't knock on the door. She never did anymore. Damon never kept it locked and she'd found out that he rarely answered anymore when she knocked. She had found herself spending more time at the boarding house than her own home since the summer had started as well.

She found him in the parlor, ever present drink in hand. He'd known she was there as soon as she had pulled up in her car. He always did.

"Drink?" He offered, going to fill his own glass.

"No," she declined, like always. "We need to talk."

He raised an eyebrow and there was amusement in his blue eyes. "Are we breaking things off again?"

"What are you doing, Damon?" She asked, anger coloring her tone. She'd been angry for a while.

"Well, I was attempting to get drunk," he answered, sitting on the couch and watching her. "But I doubt that's what you're angry at me about. So, why don't you tell me what I've done to piss you off this time?"

"You've been working with Bonnie," she blurted out and the anger was mixed with hurt then. The sting of betrayal had been strong when she'd seen them together and realized what it meant.

"And…"

"You told me you'd given up but you've been working with Bonnie." That was really the root of it. He'd been lying to her. She loved Stefan, was terrified that she'd never be able to find him and get him away from Klaus and Damon had been lying to her and working with her best friend.

"Look, the witch is actually my best shot of getting Stefan back," he admitted, standing and going back over to the liquor. "Shouldn't you be happy about this? You're a few steps closer to getting the love of your life back."

Elena's anger only grew at the tone of his voice. "You should have told me you were looking for him. You shouldn't have lied-"

"Why?" He cut her off, walked closer to her. "So you could do something stupid yet again? Like, _I don't know_, go chase after a group of werewolves on a full moon?"

"I'm not a kid, Damon and I've told you to stop cutting me out of things to try and protect me. I have to get Stefan back. What did you expect me to do? Just sit back and wait for someone else to do it?"

"Yes, actually. That's exactly what I expect you to do. Just like you expect Jeremy to or how you expected Ric to…"

Elena flinched. "That's different…"

"How?" He got even closer, into her personal space. "You and Stefan…neither of you seem to give a damn about sacrificing yourself like it's nothing. Only, at least he got what he wanted. You, on the other hand, would have just been dead and, guess what? Stefan would still be where he is now."

"I have to try."

"No you don't have to. You could let me handle this. And, yes, the witch too because she is a witch and can actually do something to defend herself against a vampire or a werewolf if she crosses paths with one."

"I can defend myself," Elena protested.

"Against Klaus? Or his rabid hybrids?" Damon pressed. "I've told you that I am going to bring your boyfriend back."

"And when working with you gets Bonnie killed too?" She asked, changing tracks on him because she'd been thinking about that as well.

There was a flash of anger in Damon's eyes at those words. "The witch can take care of herself. Now, why don't you go home, be good and save the suicide missions, will you?" He had grabbed her arm halfway through and was pulling her towards the door.

"Damon!" She protested just as he closed the door on her.

Xxxxxxx

Bonnie rested her chin on her hands, sitting at the bar. She had been there a while but her mood had yet to improve. She seriously doubted it would that night, not after what had happened. She had finally found out why Jeremy had been acting so strangely since she had returned to Mystic Falls and the information had not been welcome.

Bonnie was not the most jealous person in the world but even she couldn't help it with the knowledge that Jeremy was seeing his dead ex-girlfriends. Maybe it wasn't logical. After all, they were dead but there was also the fact that Jeremy was only seeing them because he wanted them there.

The worst part about it was it was technically her fault. She wouldn't take back what she'd done…begging the witches to save him but she had thought the consequences would fall on her shoulders, not his.

"Drinking on a school night?" An amused voice sounded to her right and Bonnie felt the irritation rise at the sound of his voice. She didn't bother lifting her head, just turned it so she could see him as Damon sat down beside her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, rolling her eyes at the familiarity of this scene. Since the last time they'd tried hunting down Klaus and Stefan and had almost gotten mauled by a rabid hybrid, her natural ire towards Damon had cooled considerably.

She was mildly irritated with herself when she'd realized it but was unable to help it. After some prodding on her part, Damon had revealed that he had run into Stefan up there. Damon had been even more determined than ever to get Stefan away from Klaus afterwards.

During the hours after they had made it back to Mystic Falls, she had learned that Stefan had somehow gotten bitten by the hybrid, that Klaus had ordered him to bring the hybrid back alive and that Stefan had killed him in order to save Damon's life, essentially dooming himself-_again-_to save Damon. Damon had only calmed when he revealed that Stefan had let him know that Klaus had cured him after all.

All of this had apparently happened in the short time that she and Damon had been separated and Bonnie tended to believe, after this information, that both Elena and Damon were right, that Stefan could be pulled back from the brink.

"Drinking on a school night," he answered, bringing her out of her thoughts. She eyed him as he downed the rest of his drink.

She only hesitated a second. "Aren't you going to buy me one of those?"

He raised an eyebrow and she saw a flicker of surprise in his eyes before it was gone and waved down the bartender in answer.


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry I haven't updated this story. My interest in the show turned a little…okay, maybe a lot sour after the third season finale. I can deal with the love triangle. It's been going on the entire show, after all. But the utter stupidity that reigned in the last half of the third season almost made me want to stop watching all together.

_Then_

"I'm not an idiot, you know. His ex-girlfriend and he wants her there."

Bonnie lifted her glass, grimacing slightly still at the taste of beer. She was unsure exactly of why she was telling all this to Damon but they had somehow ended up in a table in the corner of the place, sitting across from each other and she'd somehow managed to relay everything that had been happening between her and Jeremy to the vampire that she used to hate. _Used to?_

"I get it," he said and she tilted her head. She supposed he _did _get it.

"Don't you ever get tired of all the drama?" She asked him suddenly. The alcohol was definitely loosening her tongue. "I mean, you're what? A hundred and fifty years old?"

"One hundred and seventy," he corrected almost idly. "And I suppose it's better than boredom. I've been known to do some pretty bad things when I'm bored."

Bonnie actually snorted. "Yeah, well, you do bad things either way."

He only grinned at her. "You are spending all your time with me."

"I need this spell," she pointed out.

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms on the table, leaning towards her. "We're not getting this spell tonight."

"Yeah, then maybe I'm just going crazy."

"Not the first time I've heard that."

Bonnie almost smiled. "I'm not surprised." She drained the rest of her drink. "Shouldn't you be over hitting on some poor girl that would have no clue what she'd be getting herself into?"

"And miss opportunity to sit here and trade insults with you? Why would I do that?" His grin was back and she rolled her eyes. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

"Fine. I've decided you're the crazy one, then. Not me."

Damon only shrugged. "I can live with that." He got up, only to get her another drink and she sighed, resting her head on the table a moment, reflecting that the insults she'd been throwing at him lately did not have the heat that they used to have.

Xxxxxxxxx

"This isn't supposed to happen, you know?"

"What's that?" Damon had his elbows on the table, leaning on them and was watching her with amusement shining in his eyes.

"This!" She waved her hand between them. "You and me, having drinks together. Being all….friendly." She swayed a bit where she was sitting.

"It's what? Unnatural?"

"Exactly!" She paused and stared at him a moment. Drunk enough that her tongue was a bit more loose than usual but not drunk enough to get sick yet, she continued, "You're not who I thought you were."

Xxxxxxxxx

Her head was pounding. At least, that was the first thing Bonnie became aware of when she woke up. She lay still for several seconds on her back, brought hands up to cover her closed eyes in an attempt to block out the building headache. When she finally dropped her hands and turned onto her side, she had to suppress a scream when she was met with Damon's bright blue eyes.

"What the hell?"

"Morning," he said with a smirk on his face. He settled onto his back, hands under his head as she sat up, looking around the room that was definitely not hers. She frowned as she remembered that she had been drinking last night, drinking with him.

"Oh, god," she groaned, putting her hands to her aching head again. She'd drank quite a bit and she clearly remembered going on a slightly slurred rant about men, among other things.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She asked him, wondered how long he'd been in the room with her.

"I got a lead on where Klaus is," he revealed.

"Heading there?" Bonnie asked, still considering pushing him off the bed. She did remember, however, that he'd actually been pretty nice to her the night before and that he had made sure to get her back safely.

He looked pretty conflicted for a moment and Bonnie still marveled at the fact that she could read him so well just by his eyes.

"No," he answered, although he still sounded reluctant. "Won't do any good at this point. Do better to head to where we planned over the weekend rather than driving up to Chicago and getting ourselves killed."

"You tell Elena about this?"

Damon snorted. "Are you kidding? She'd head off on another suicide mission to 'talk' Stefan down."

Bonnie couldn't argue with that. Elena was determined that if she could only get a few minutes alone with Stefan that she could bring him back. But Bonnie had gained new insight into Damon and Stefan's relationship since she'd been working with Damon. She was sure Stefan wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the deal he'd made.

"If you get out of here and let me get cleaned up, I might forget the fact that you were in here while I was sleeping. Are you always this creepy?"

Damon just shook his head and threw her a bag. "Say thank you, Judgy," he said before getting up and leaving the room without actually waiting for her to.

She looked in the bag and found everything she needed to take a shower and a change of clothes in her size. Sighing, she got up and headed into the bathroom adjoining the room she was in. He could still surprise her every now and then.

Xxxxxxxxx

"You're a psycho."

"And you're bossy. So?"

"You're also an arrogant ass."

"Riiight. And you're not up on your own pedestal?"

"You're arrogant, you're never serious about anything…oh, yeah and you kill people-"

"Not in a while, actually."

"Still doesn't change what you've done." Bonnie stopped when all she got was a shrug in return. Damon looked just as relaxed as he had been when they'd started the car ride. She wasn't sure when they'd decided to start listing off each other's character flaws all at the same time. They usually built up to it with a couple of fights.

Bonnie leaned back in her seat. She actually didn't feel as frustrated or angry as she should have. It also came to her that the argument they'd just had was a bit on the childish side but she was stuck in a car with him and arguing with him was distracting.

She was wrong, at least in part. Or, she was about him not being serious about anything. Bonnie had gotten strangely good at reading him and behind the smirks and mocking light in his eyes; he was serious about getting his brother back.

"You…can't dance," she said after a moment.

"What are you talking about? You've seen my moves before."

"I wasn't impressed." She tried to keep her tone level, tried to keep in the laugh that wanted to escape at the offended look on his face.

"Liar," he said, and she could have sworn he sounded just a little bit petulant.

"I'm not," she insisted, her lips twitching as she tried to hold back a smile. She nearly gasped when, still keeping the car between the lanes, he leaned close to her, _too close._

"Maybe I'll just have to prove to you how good I am."

"Eyes on the road, Damon." She glared at him when he smirked and did as she asked. Falling silent, she watched him a moment. They'd been teasing each other. She had the thought again that it was a bit unnatural.

"You're staring. Thinking about taking me up on that offer?"

"No," she answered immediately and reached over to punch him on the shoulder when he laughed.

Xxxxxxxxx

"This is it?" Bonnie stared up at the house they had stopped at.

"Yep." Damon's eyes were narrowed. "The bitch probably already knows I'm here."

"If she hates you so much, why would she do anything for you?"

"I told you, she owes me. Course, she did claim that once she paid off that debt she'd do her best to kill me."

"And you really think she'll have a way to take Klaus down?"

"Only one way to find out." He got out of the car with a sigh and Bonnie followed after him.

Xxxxxxxxx

_Now_

"Almost time." Bonnie stood behind him, watching him as he stared at the window in the parlor, at the light shining through. "Not thinking about ending things early, are you?"

"Not yet." He turned and set the glass of alcohol down on the table nearby before starting over to her. Before she could protest, he grabbed a hold of her and pulled her close.

"Damon…"

"Still don't want to take me up on it?" He asked before he spun her. She went with it.

"I'm going to save you," she stated after he'd pulled her back close.

"Stop talking, Bonnie." It was a request, and she fell silent, made no more protests. She let herself forget, at least for a few minutes, what was coming.


	10. Chapter 10

I feel kind of bad about how long it took me to update the last chapter so I'm updating again now. Hope you guys like it!

_Then_

If looks could kill, Bonnie was sure Damon would have died as soon as the door to the house they had stopped at opened and the dark haired girl who had opened it recognized him.

"What do you want?" She asked, not even taking note of Bonnie at first.

Damon grinned at her, leaning against the frame. "Come on, now Ava. Is that any way to treat a guest?"

"Guests are invited in," she said, venom in her tone.

"What if I told you I've changed? That I'm not the same man I was five years ago?" Damon said dramatically.

"What do you want, Damon?" Ava asked yet again, and looked very close to setting Damon on fire. Bonnie watched as his expression cleared and he turned serious.

"I've come to cash in."

Ava straightened noticeably and, if anything, only looked angrier. Her gaze turned briefly to Bonnie and she stared a moment. "What are you doing traveling with him? You're no vampire. Do you know what he is? What he's done?"

Bonnie opened her mouth to respond but Damon cut her off. "Let's not get into all that. You told me about a spell once, remember? Said it'd work on any vampire. I want it. Actually, I'd prefer it if you could teach it to my friend here."

Ava's eyes widened just slightly when she looked Bonnie's way again but she didn't comment on it. "I'm not inviting you in."

"Of course you're not."

"And I'm still going to kill you someday."

"Naturally." Damon rolled his eyes. Ava turned without another word and walked back into her house, leaving the door open. "Have fun."

"I think I hate you again," Bonnie commented before she started into the house of the hostile witch who probably hated her on sight just because she was traveling with Damon.

Xxxxxxxxx

Elena had to resist the urge to throw her phone in frustration when Damon's went to voicemail yet again. She was angry and she couldn't stop herself from being that way. It was easier to be angry.

But it was more than Damon just lying to her that had that anger sparking in her so brightly. She needed to be with him when he sought out Stefan, she had to be. Not only because she had to see Stefan but also because she couldn't not be there if something went wrong.

She had lost too much already. Her nightmares lately had moved from Jenna and her parents to what could happen in the future. She had horrible nightmares of the things Stefan was doing with Klaus, of Klaus growing bored of him and ending his life, of Klaus ending the deal with Stefan by ending Damon's life.

Damon wasn't answering his phone. She needed something to do. Sitting on her bed gave her too much time to think, gave her too much time to picture what could happen if Klaus figured out that Damon was still tracking him.

Getting up, she put on her shoes before starting to head out. Maybe she could find Caroline and they could go out. She most definitely needed something. Jeremy's door was ajar and Elena put her hand on it, about to open it…

"…I don't think I want to lose you."

Elena frowned, paused before she opened his door. His back was to her and he seemed to be talking to the air.

"I know that. She stormed out and we haven't really talked since. It's…different with you…"

"Jeremy?" Elena called. He spun.

"Elena…hey."

She crossed her arms. "Anna?"

"Yeah," he answered, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Well…I'm going to head out. Find something to do."

"Alright."

She waved on her way out but the frown hadn't left her face. The way he'd been talking, the tone of his voice…she was distracted when her phone rang and she pulled it out. She threw up her free hand and answered it.

"Finally! Where the hell are you?"

Xxxxxxxxx

"Hello to you to, Elena." Damon leaned back in the driver's seat of his car. "What did you need to speak to me so urgently about?" He had about fifty missed calls and a few angry voicemails from her.

"_Where are you?" _

"I'm…taking a break," he answered, glancing towards the house that Bonnie had disappeared into.

"_With Bonnie?" _

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not chasing after Klaus," he admitted. "At the moment, I am not anywhere near where Klaus and Stefan probably are."

There was a pause on the other end other end of the line. "_You have to promise me, Damon. Promise me that when you do go after them, you'll take me with you." _

"Yeah, sure. I _promise_," he said, his tone light. "Now, I gotta go. I'm still on…break." He ended the call before she could retort. He probably shouldn't have even called her back. She was most likely going to be even more pissed off at him when he got back.

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he waited. Ava was probably trying to convince Bonnie to kill him herself. A smirk formed on his face. Not that Bonnie needed the motivation.

Xxxxxxxxx

"You're a witch," Ava said, stalking over to her book shelf and yanking out a book.

"Yes," Bonnie answered, eyeing the woman warily and wondering if she was going to have to end up defending herself.

"And you're friends with that monster?"

"No!" Bonnie answered immediately. "We're not friends." _Right? Of course not. _"I tried to set him on fire once," she offered after a moment, reaffirming in her mind that she had.

"But you're helping him?" Ava asked, her anger not dying. "Do you owe him something as well?"

"No, this isn't about debts. And I'm well aware of the things he's done." And aware that this woman had known Damon before he'd returned to Mystic Falls. She still remembered clearly how much a sociopath Damon had been when he'd first gotten to Mystic Falls.

"And you're still helping him?"

"I have to." Bonnie sighed. "Look, everyone I love is in danger right now from someone a lot worse than Damon. If you really have a spell that can take down this threat…"

"You're going to use this spell to save people? And why does he want it?"

"For the same reason," Bonnie answered, chewing her lip. She shrugged at the look on Ava's face. "I know, unbelievable right? He wants to save his brother and I really believe that he'll do anything to achieve that."

"Damon Salvatore does not care about anyone but himself." She tilted her head, studied Bonnie. "But I do owe him and I need to end this debt…I hope that you do not end up dead because of whatever it is he has pulled you into."

Xxxxxxxx

Bonnie could hear the music blaring from the car radio as soon as she stepped outside the house. She stopped short with a frown as she approached when she didn't see Damon in the car but shook her head when she got close enough to look inside. He was lying across the front seats, almost dancing where he was lying.

"Having fun?" She asked.

"Are you kidding?" He sat up. "I'm bored out of my skull."

"Then why wouldn't you go find something to do?"

"The bitch hates me," he reminded her. "I figured I'd stay close…"

Bonnie grinned. "Don't tell me you were worried about me?" She asked as she opened the passenger door.

"Of course not. Let's get the hell out of here before she decides to storm out here and make good on her promise."

"Alright." Bonnie smiled wider and got into the passenger seat.

"I take it you got what you needed?"

Bonnie nodded. "You were right. This is going to work. It has to."

Xxxxxxxx

_Now_

"Don't tell me you've been avoiding me." Damon leaned against the banister, standing at the end of the stairs and watched his brother.

"Why would I do that?" Stefan asked, turning to face him. His expression didn't change. Damon studied him a moment.

"We need to talk," he said, pushing away from the stairs and ignoring the weakness in his limbs.

"I don't have anything to talk to you about."

"Yeah, I get it. You don't give a damn about me or Elena, you're evil, on Klaus' side, and so on…" Damon rolled his eyes, his tone dismissive. "You know, Rose said once that there is no switch, or that after a while you lose the ability to flip it."

"She was wrong." Stefan turned, intent on leaving.

"Yeah, see that's the thing. She wasn't." He dropped down on the couch. "And I've seen you with your emotions turned off, remember?"

Stefan stopped, turned to him. "This is your new ploy? Are you really going to try and talk me back into being the guy I was before? Between you and Elena, this is getting pathetic."

Damon only grinned and shook his head. "No, I'm not trying to talk you into anything. I know what I'm saying is the truth. But I also know that the only way to win this is by killing Klaus."

"You can't kill Klaus, Damon. It's impossible."

"Nothing's impossible, brother." Damon saw the spark of interest in Stefan's eyes.

"This is," he insisted again.

Damon tilted his head and studied Stefan a moment. "You really want to believe that? Come on, Stefan. I_ know_ you want Klaus dead just as much as I do."

"I've told you to let this go. You need to let it go."

"Can't," Damon said with a shrug. He stood then, walked over to Stefan. "Look, I get it. You're compelled, which means you can't go after Klaus yourself and you probably can't tell me anything. But I'm telling you, I have a way to end this."

"Why would you be telling me this?" Stefan asked with narrowed eyes.

"I need a favor, actually. I need Klaus here."

"What?" Stefan actually laughed at him. "No, I don't think so."

Damon crossed his arms. "Why not, Stefan? Worried about me? About Elena?"

"No, I-"

"Look, don't worry. There's no way Klaus will kill Elena now that he knows he needs her for his little hybrid army and he's keeping his deal with you, which probably means he's not gonna kill me."

"I'm not worried-"

"I just need you to get Klaus here. That's it. I'll take care of the rest," Damon continued, ignoring Stefan's denial. "Come on, little brother. What do you have to lose?"


End file.
